1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to and has among its objects a simple and inexpensive treatment of rice flour to obtain rice-containing baked goods having improved properties. Further objects and advantages of the invention will be evident from the following description wherein parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rice has characteristics such as the absence of gluten; low levels of sodium, protein, fat, and fiber; and a high level of easily digested carbohydrates, which make it desirable for certain special diets. Baked products prepared with significant quantities of rice flour provide an important dietary addition to persons with wheat or gluten allergies, hypertension, nephritis, or digestive difficulties. The availability of baked products containing significant amounts of rice flour in place of wheat flour has been limited due to the difficulty of obtaining products which are acceptable to consumers.
The problems associated with producing baked products such as layer cakes, muffins or cupcakes having desirable volume, crumb character, grain, texture, appearance and eating quality from formulations using rice flour are due mainly to the lack of ability of the rice flour to form a gel. This is due to the extremely small size and and nature of the starch granules and the inability of the protein to form a structural network. These problems increase where wheat flour is completely replaced with rice flour, and eggs and milk, ingredients also helpful to cake structure, are left out of the formulation. Presently, cakes produced with significant quantities of rice flour are dense, gummy and/or pasty and have limited consumer acceptance. No method exists for producing a 100 percent rice flour, egg-free layer cake that is not dense or gummy and which has good grain, texture, appearance and eating quality.